south korea
Writing for Commies: 7 Tips from Kim Jong Il’s 1986 Treatise on Literature
Want to write like the Dear Leader? Here’s how.
The Koreas: To Reunify or Not?
Kim Jong Il’s sudden death sent Seoul scrambling — and reignited decades-old questions about the future of the Korean Peninsula. Should South Korea President Lee Myung Bak push for unification?
Kim’s Death: Jitters in Northeast Asia
On Monday afternoon, a black-clad newscaster in Pyongyang, sitting in front of a bucolic backdrop of pine trees and snow-capped mountains, was barely able to get out the news. North Korea’s long-time leader Kim Jong Il, she …
How Will China Respond to a New U.S. Military Presence in Australia?
U.S. plans to station troops in Australia to help counter China’s growing clout might be expected to provoke cries of indignation from Beijing. But the development, which President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard are expected to formally announce on Nov. 17 during Obama’s visit to Australia, has thus far …
U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Foot-Dragging: Will Washington Welch On the Deal?
Today, June 15, marks Colombia’s deadline to pass Washington’s free-trade test, and it made the grade. To assuage well-founded U.S. concerns about workers’ rights and anti-labor union violence in Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos agreed to undertake a raft of reforms. They include a major increase in labor inspectors; new …
Tomato Diplomacy: Is Fukushima Bringing China and Japan Together?
On Saturday, the leaders of the world’s second, third and 15th largest economies got together in Fukushima City and ate veggies to demonstrate how safe it is to do just that. I think it’s always a little embarrassing to observe politicians in orchestrated eating and/or drinking events (see Obama’s three-guys-just-having-a-beer moment …
Why Burma’s Sanctions Debate Doesn’t Really Matter
The Burma sanctions debate in the West is made largely immaterial by the investment currently flooding the country, mostly from Asian nations that have few moral reservations about enriching the Burmese ruling generals. Chief among the eager investors are China, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and India. Their target? Burma’s rich …
Asia Braces for Spike in Suicides
Here‘s our piece on suicide in Asia in the wake of the current global economic crisis. A new study examines the dramatic jump in suicides following the Asian financial crisis a decade ago. Compared to 1997, suicide rates among men in 1998 rose by 44% in Hong Kong, 39% in Japan and 45% in South Korea. Governments need to come up with
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Taiwan the Latest to Legalize Gambling
After 15 years of talks, Taiwan’s legislature has passed a bill to legalize gambling on the Penghu islands, located off the west coast of Taiwan’s main island. While Macau takes the lion’s share of Asia’s gaming dollars, reeling in more than $10 billion USD in 2007 (2008 figures haven’t yet been released), there’s no shortage …
